Soovin Kim, violin
Jessica Lee, violin
Choong-Jin (C.J.) Chang, viola
Peter Stumpf, cello
The Johannes Quartet consists of four outstanding musicians who take time
away from their busy careers to pursue their love of the string quartet
literature. This quartet brings
together the principal cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the principal
viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first American to win the Paganini
Violin Competition in 24 years, and a Concert Artist Guild International
Competition Winner, and has been praised by listeners and critics alike for
its special combination of passion, warmth, elegance, and poetry.
Each member has spent numerous
summers at the celebrated Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, birthplace of
many of the world's renowned ensembles. New
York appearances include debuts at Carnegie Hall and The Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center, as well as frequent performances on the Schneider
Series at the New School and the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts at Town Hall.
Since the Johannes made its acclaimed debut there in 1998, the Chamber Music
Society of Philadelphia has played a major role in launching the Quartet,
presenting them regularly each season, including a two-concert series of the
complete Beethoven opus 18 quartets. Their
debut was described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as having "accurate
intonation, vigorous interaction, and careful regard for the details in the
score ... the passion and attack that characterize the best of quartet
playing."
A highlight of recent seasons included the group’s collaboration with the
legendary Guarneri String Quartet in a program featuring
Octet:
Double Quartet, written
specifically for the two ensembles by award-winning composer William Bolcom,
and commissioned by the Music Accord consortium of presenters.
The two groups also joined together
for performances of Mendelssohn’s glorious
Octet.
In addition to these works, the
Johannes also premiered a new string quartet,
Homunculus, written for them by
Esa-Pekka Salonen. They received
acclaim from audiences and critics alike at the Krannert Center (Urbana,
IL), University Musical Society (Ann Arbor, MI), Penn State University, and
Boston’s Celebrity Series, the Orange County Performing Arts Society, San
Francisco Performances, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, UCLA Live, Kansas
City Friends of Chamber Music, Hayes University (KS), and the Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center in New York City for their performances of these
groundbreaking works. The
Johannes has also been heard around the country through broadcasts on public
radio’s Performance Today and
St. Paul Sunday programs.
The Johannes String Quartet appears by special arrangement with Frank
Salomon Associates, 121 West 27th Street, Suite 703, New York, New York
10001-6262.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Quartet in B-flat major, K. 589 (composed 1790)
Allegro
Larghetto
Menuetto: Moderato
Allegro assai
Legend holds that Mozart composed complete works in his head before he
ever set pen to paper, that he never had to struggle with writing, that he
was a natural fount of melody and invention. Evidence suggests that reality
may have been otherwise, especially in the last few years of his pitifully
short life. Many scholars see the evolution of a more mature composer in his
final five or so years, a composer more restrained and economical, less
profligate with textures and themes. There had always been circumstances in
his life that could have caused such changes, but they certainly intensified
in those years: his wife’s health and his own, his father’s death in 1787,
his perpetual financial problems exacerbated by an inability to secure
steady employment, his involvement with freemasonry.
Perhaps it’s coincidence, but from this period survive more sketches,
drafts, and false starts than from any other time of Mozart’s career. This
is particularly the case with his final three string quartets, the so-called
Prussian Quartets, K. 575, 589, and 590. It remains a matter of dispute
whether Mozart was formally commissioned by cellist Friedrich Wilhelm II,
King of Prussia, to write a set of six quartets for himself and a set of six
easy piano sonatas for the princess. But in any case, Mozart lived to write
only three of the projected six quartets. When the quartets were published
by Artaria just weeks after the composer’s death, they included no
dedication.
The Allegro floats around the upper registers of the violins and
viola before the cello joins in, from which point it dominates the
exposition. In the Larghetto, it is the cello’s turn to play in its
upper reaches against spare accompaniment. The minuet appears to mock itself
as gentle laughter begins in the cello, moves to the viola, and finally
spreads all around. The longer trio section features complex counterpoint.
Marked Allegro assai, the finale plays around with changing
dynamics and shifting meters.
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Quartet in A minor, op. 41, no. 1 (composed 1842)
Introduzione: Andante espressivo; Allegro
Scherzo: Presto; Intermezzo
Adagio
Presto
In February 1842, Clara and Robert Schumann launched a tour of Bremen,
Oldenburg, and Hamburg. Clara had been invited to play piano and Robert,
having begged off conducting his own works on this trip, grew increasingly
uncomfortable being shunted to the background. So instead of continuing on
to Copenhagen with his wife, Robert went home alone to Leipzig in mid-March
to nurse his depression with the odd combination of alcohol and
counterpoint.
Back in February before the tour, Robert had reported having “quartet-ish
thoughts.” Now he plunged headlong into extensive study of Mozart,
Beethoven, and Haydn quartets. On April 26th, Clara returned from the tour
and Robert’s mood improved considerably. By early June, he had moved from
quartet study to quartet writing and within five weeks, he had created all
three of his extant string quartets, dedicated to his friend Felix
Mendelssohn. Schumann’s Quartet in A minor, op. 41, no. 1 was begun
on June 4, 1842, and was likely the last of the three to be completed. It
was first performed for Clara’s 23rd birthday on September 13, but did not
receive its official public premiere until January 8, 1843, in Leipzig.
Though Schumann continued to churn out chamber works through January of 1843
before shifting his attention to choral music, all the remaining pieces
(including the Quintet, op. 44; the Fantasiestücke, op. 88;
and the Quartet, op. 47) featured his own instrument, the piano.
Many scholars argue that even the three string quartets betray Schumann’s
preoccupation (and comfort) with the piano in how he constructs and
embellishes themes.
Marked Andante espressivo, the slow introduction reflects
Schumann’s immersion in counterpoint earlier in 1842 as he prepared to take
on the string quartet medium. Then the first violin sounds the main theme of
the Allegro; a closely related second theme follows. Placing the
Scherzo second, Schumann offers an A minor Presto and a C
major trio section dubbed Intermezzo in a quick duple time rather
than the more common triple time. Schumann the songwriter enters with the
third movement Adagio, the main theme of which recalls the
Adagio of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, as many listeners have
noted. The Presto finale has only one real theme, returning to A
minor, a fugal development section, an A major section marked Moderato,
and a coda.
Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904)
Quartet in E-flat major, op. 51 (B. 92; S. 62) (composed 1878-1879)
Allegro ma non troppo
Dumka (Elegie): Andante con moto; Vivace
Romanze: Andante com moto
Finale: Allegro assai
Jean Becker, founder and first violinist of the Florentine Quartet, wanted a
"Slavonic" work from Antonín Dvorák. But a B-flat major quartet that the
composer began sketching out was soon abandoned in favor of this
Quartet in E-flat major, op. 51,
begun on Christmas Day 1878, and completed on March 28, 1879. Although
dedicated to Becker, the quartet was not published in time for him to
include it in his ensemble's Autumn 1879 tour of Switzerland. As it
happened, the Joachim Quartet performed
Opus 51 first, at violinist
Joseph Joachim's home on July 29, 1879. Becker was able to present the
earliest public performances later that year in Prague.
All of this occurred while Johannes Brahms and critic Eduard Hanslick were
busy promoting Dvorák's music throughout Europe. Brahms's publisher Simrock
had been skeptical at first, preferring to gauge public reaction before
committing to the career of this unknown Bohemian. But when such works as
the Slavonic Rhapsodies, op. 45,
for orchestra, and the Slavonic
Dances, op. 46, for piano duet, became runaway hits, Simrock wanted all
the Dvorák it could get its hands on. This quartet, which many regard as
Dvorák's first truly mature chamber piece, was among those the publisher
grabbed up.
--
Program notes by Jay Weitz, Senior Consulting Database Specialist for music,
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio.
He is a contributing performing arts critic for the weekly
alternative newspaper Columbus Alive
(http://www.columbusalive.com).
